Karl Lagerfeld: Farewell to Daylight, Pace/MacGill Gallery, NYC

Karl Lagerfeld: Farewell to Daylight
Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York
May 18 — June 17, 2006

Pace/MacGill Gallery presents "Farewell to Daylight," Karl Lagerfeld's first exhibition of photographs in the United States. The show features over twenty 16 x 20-inch gelatin silver prints as well as a selection of digital pigment and Fresson color prints (2006). His photographs, taken in Paris after the sun has set, transcend simple descriptions of place and capture the emotional dimensions and ethereal qualities of one of the world's most enchanting and legendary cities.

In addition to his career as a fashion designer, Karl Lagerfeld began working as a photographer in 1987. Among his many talents is his innate skill with the camera. Karl Lagerfeld understands the medium and what it can accomplish and is able to make photographs that are sensitive reflections of his thoughts and feelings. The exhibition reveals Karl Lagerfeld’s singular views of the Paris he experiences during his nocturnal strolls through the city’s streets and along the Seine. Drawn to Parisian scenery and architecture, Karl Lagerfeld explores the cityscape as well as the alluring qualities of the night atmosphere. Landmarks become abstracted; porticoes recede into infinite shadow and columns appear as intangible, luminous pillars of light. As a photographer, he embraces the technical challenges posed by difficult light conditions; all of Karl Lagerfeld’s pictures were shot during the limited hours between dusk and nightfall. Working in the tradition of Brassai - who famously chronicled the city in the monograph Paris By Night (1933) - Karl Lagerfeld creates a modern portrait of nighttime in the “City of Light.”

Karl Lagerfeld was born in 1938 in Hamburg. He is the recipient of the Lucky Strike Design Award from the Raymond Loewy Foundation (1993) and the cultural prize from the German Photographic Society (1996). In 1998 he founded the Lagerfeld Gallery in Paris. Monographs of Karl Lagerfeld’s photography include Waterdance/Bodywave (2002), Aktstrakt (2003), and A Portrait of Dorian Gray (2004), among others. Steidl has published the majority of his books.

Karl Lagerfeld lives and works in Paris and New York City.

PACE/MACGILL GALLERY
32 East 57th Street, New York, NY 10022
www.pacemacgill.com